Sinanan: $90m for one parcel under PP

QUESTIONABLE land acquisition for the construction of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin will be taken to to the Cabinet in two weeks to determine the way forward.

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said “mindblowing” information had been unearthed, including reports that as much as $90 million was paid for a single parcel of land.

Sinanan said attorneys at his ministry and the National Infrastructure Development Co Ltd (NIDCO), which was also involved in the acquisitions for the highway, “have put together a package that is going to Cabinet in two weeks with a full report on the land acquisition on that highway.

“It’s going to be mindblowing when the true facts of that land acquisition come out,” he said on Thursday night at the Conversation with the PM at Palo Seco Government Primary School.

The Prime Minister missed the meeting to attend a video conference with other Caricom heads on the developing crisis in Venezuela.

Energy Minister Franklin Khan, MPs for La Brea and Point Fortin Nicole Olivierre and Edmund Dillon and Public Utilities Minister Robert Le Hunte fielded most of the questions from residents of Palo Seco and surrounding areas. Disappointed by the absence of the PM, the residents vented concerns about employment, poor roads, flooding, lack of water and electricity, unfinished schools and demolition of houses.

Sinanan’s statements came in response to a question from Curtis Huggins about the status of his property, which was used for the construction of the Delhi Road/Mondesir segment.

“NIDCO did the evaluation, but the Government stopped all contributions from 2015 for that segment. It’s three years now I in limbo and I am here tonight for Government to do something for us,” Huggins said on behalf of other residents in similar situations.

Sinanan admitted his government had halted the processing of some of the acquisitions.

“The reason for that is something was happening we could not make sense of. That highway started before the 2010 elections with a budget of $400 million for the acquisition of lands. Government changed and for some strange reason, the land acquisition valuation went from $400 million to $800 million.”

He said when the People’s National Movement (PNM) went into government, “What we found was about 50 per cent of the land was acquired, leaving close to 400 pieces still to be acquired and close to $600 million already spent.”

Sinanan said they discovered, “where a piece (of land) was needed, an entire block was bought. So this Government had to go into most of these plots to identify what really went on there.

“It took us a while to evaluate the process, and I am happy to announce that the attorneys and NIDCO and the MOW have put together a package that is going to the Cabinet in two weeks, with a full report on land acquisition on that highway.”